Bag carrier



Sept. 5, 1967 E. w. sows-rem BAG czgnnmn 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 8, 1966 INVENTOR EDWIN W. GOLD STEIN ATTORNEY P 5, 1967 E. w. GOLDSTEIN 3,339,721

BAG CARRIER Filed Feb. 8, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet F3 INVENTOR EDWIN W. GOLDSTEIN ATTORNEY Se t. 5, 1967 E. w. GOLDSTEIN BAG CARRIER Filed Feb. 8, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 T fi INVENTOR EDWIN w. GOLDSTEIN ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,339,721 BAG CARRIER Edwin W. Goldstein, Scarsdale, N.Y., assignor to Milprint, Inc., Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 8, 1966, Ser. No. 525,901 3 Claims. (Cl. 20656) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An open-ended carrier for holding a bag which has front and rear panels hinged to opposite edges of a bottom panel, with the bottom panel formed of two portions so that the carrier rests on the two edges.

This invention relates to the field of packaging; more particularly, to a carrier, which can be of paperboard or the like, for holding and protecting a bag packed with commodity.

It is well known, of course, to insert a bag packed with commodity inside a carton that forms a complete protective enclosure for the bag, i.e. a six-sided rectangular carton in the usual instance. It is the purpose of this invention, however, to provide a carrier for a bag which can use less material than a carton or box and which still provides for efiicient handling of the bag and protection for its contents but, in addition, provides important and useful packaging features not available with cartons or boxes.

Briefly, this invention provides a carrier for a bag that is basically a three-sided receptacle having a front panel and a back panel joined to a base panel, with the front and rear panels converging at their upper ends. The bag is held between the front and rear panels of the carrier, which is particularly adapted to hold the bag in such a manner as to give increased protection to the contents of the bag. The base panel can be formed to enable the carrier to stand upright. As thusly described, the carrier is open at its ends, thereby using less material than a conventional carton. It has been found that a carrier of this invention is extremely functional in that it gives a high degree of protective packaging for the bag and, at the same time, it forms a highly attractive package which has a great deal of customer appeal since it permits visual inspection of the contents of the bag through the open ends of the carrier.

One of the important objects of this invention is to provide an economical and etficient receptacle for holding packed bags. Another is to provide a carrier for holding filled bags which has two open ends. Still another is to provide a carrier for a packed bag which is adapted to hold the bag in a suspended condition in the carrier to afford added protection to the contents of the bag. A more specific object of this invention is to provide the new or improved details of construction hereinafter described and claimed. Other objects will appear in the description which follows.

The description is made with reference to the following drawings which illustrate several physical forms in which this invention may be embodied. It is stressed that the ensuing description is for the purposes of fully and particularly setting forth the present invention and that it is, therefore, to be considered in an illustrative and not a limiting sense, except insofar as may be required by the prior art. Thus those skilled in the art may be able to devise structural changes to the disclosed embodiments and to construct embodiments not specifically disclosed while still remaining Within the scope and technical contribution of the present invention. As much as possible,

Patented Sept. 5, 1967 the same reference numeral is used to refer to the same or similar part throughout the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a package utilizing a carrier according to this invention for holding a bag;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the plane of line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the upper portion of the package as shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an end view of a carrier of this invention holding a bag with a different bottom construction than the bag in FIGS. 1-3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a group of packages of this invention packed in a box;

FIG. 6 is an interior sectional view of the box of FIG.

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FIG. 7 is an end view of a second form of carrier according to this invention; and

FIG. 8 is an end view of a third form of carrier according to this invention.

In the description which follows and in the claims, structural portions of the cartons and packages will be identified by specific names for convenience and clarity of description; some examples are front, back, bag and top. The names, however, are intended to be generic in their application and should not be construed in a limiting sense.

FIG. 1 shows a package consisting of a carrier 10 holding a bag 11 packed with commodity 12. The carrier 10 consists of a front wall panel 13 hinged to one edge of a bottom panel 14 along a fold line 15 and a rear wall panel 16 hinged to an opposite edge of the bottom panel along a fold line 17, the fold lines 15 and 17 being parallel to each other.

The front and rear wall panels of the carrier 10 converge at the top of the carrier and, as best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the top of the bag 11 is joined to the abutting top portions 18 and 19 of the front wall panel 13 and rear wall panel 16 respectively, there being an adhesive strip 20 joining one side of the bag to the portion 18 and an adhesive strip 21 joining the other side of the bag to the portion 19.

In the form shown in FIG. 1, the bottom panel 14 is divided into two panels 14a and 14b along a center crease or fold line 25. The panels 14a and 14b have an included angle of less than when the carrier is set up so as to form an inverted V bottom. When the carrier 10 is placed on a flat surface, it will normally rest upon the fold lines 15 and 17; it ha been found that this construction provides stable support for the carrier and its bag.

The bag 11 shown in the drawings is illustrated as being of the type having side seams 26 (only one being visible) and a top seam 27. Preferably, the bag is made of heat scalable plastic film. However, other bag constructions and materials can be used, and the present invention is not limited to the use of any particular bag or inner container construction.

As indicated in FIG. 2, the bag 11 may be inserted inside the carrier 10 so that the bottom of the bag will be suspended above the plane of the two fold lines 15 and 17 on which the carrier will normally rest. The bag, however, may be suspended wholly above the bottom panel of the carrier, i.e. above the center fold line 25 as shown in the drawings, or it may be only partly suspended above the two fold lines 15 and 17 in such condition that part of the bag will contact parts of the bottom panel. This suspension feature is a particularly valuable capability of the carrier 10 in that it gives added protection to the commodity 12 packed in the bag and thereby enables the carrier to be especially useful for holding bags of fragile foods such as potato chips and snack items generally. To obtain full suspension, a space of as little as about As" to A" provides sufiicient spacing. A bag of a structure having wall or seam portions depending from the bottom boundary of the bag cavity (i.e. the body of the bag in which commodity is packed), such as may occur with a bag having fin seams at its base, can be joined to the carrier so that such depending portions contact the bottom panel and still obtain suspension. Partial suspensiOn is obtained where part of the bottom of the bag cavity contacts the bottom panel; this partial suspension is beneficial, however, since the bag is still above the portions of the wall panels on which the carrier rests, i.e. the fold lines 15 and 17 in the illustrated embodiment, and thus above the surface on which the carrier might rest. Although the bag 11 is shown herein as having a fiat bottom, a bag with any type of bottom construction can be accommodated in the carrier, such as bags with a gusseted bottom or fin seams at the bottom. As an example, FIG. 4 shows a bag 30 having a bottom gusset panel 31, is attached to a carrier 10 and arranged so that the center fold 32 of the bag is spaced slightly above the center fold line 25 of the bottom of the carrier, and each portion of the bottom of the bag is disposed in each side portion of the bottom of the carrier. The side portions of the bag bottom still receive protection even though they may contact upright portions of the bottom of the carrier, by reason of the suspension of the bag in the carrier. Although the carrier 10 is shown as resting on the fold lines 15 and 17, it is also within the scope of this invention to provide cutouts which extend from the bottom of the carrier and serve as feet on which the carrier rests, such cut-outs serving, in effect, as extensions of the front and rear wall panels.

As indicated in FIG. 1, when the carrier is wider than the bag, an additional beneficial result is obtained, more specifically, enhanced protection of the contents of the bag when a group of the packages are packed for shipment or storage. With reference now to FIG. 5, when it is desired to pack a group of carriers 10 each containing a filled bag 11, in a packing case 35 for shipment, it has been found highly effective to place each carrier on its side so that, turning now to FIG. 6, the bag will be at least partially suspended above the edges of the front and rear wall panels of the carrier and above the bottom 36 of the packing case 35. It has been found that the bag will be held in a substantially horizontal position and its contents will receive protection against breakage while being transported or stored. This further enhances the usefulness of the carrier for the packaging of fragile food items or other articles. A preferred arrangement of a number of packed carriers in a packing case is depicted in FIG. 5 where the carriers are disposed with the bottom of one carrier adjacent the top of its neighboring carriers to give a nested arrangement that effects important space savings when packing a number of carriers.

The carrier may be formed of any suitable carton material such as paperboard, cardboard, or other foldable material including plastic. It is to be relatively stiff or rigid material in order to provide the required protection for the bag and its contents and will usually be about 8 or 10 mils thick or thicker. In comparison, the bag will usually be of relatively thin, flexible sheet material such as plastic film, glassine, cellophane, etc., either coated or uncoated monofilms or laminates, and generally will be about /2 to 5 mils thick. The carrier can be formed as a flat blank that can be erected into its final condition when a bag is to be inserted. Also, however, the open-ended construction of the carrier has an advantage in that it can be formed from a web of suitable material which is advanced continuously or intermittently in a selected direction (preferably longitudinally), creased and scored to define the bottom panel and front and rear wall panels, and then cut transversely to separate the web into individual carriers, after which the carriers can be folded to the desired condition. Thus, to a greater extent than is possible with a conventional six-sided carton, the open-ended carrier of this invention lends itself to rapid and continuous manufacture and assembly. The fold lines or crease lines, perforated lines, and cuts can be formed by such cutting and scoring dies as are commonly used in the carton-making art. The material from which the carrier is made can include a heat sealable coating over all or part of its inner surface so that the top portions of the front and rear walls can be joined as described below.

Referring back to FIG. 3, the top of the bag 11 is joined to the upper portions 18 and 19 of the front and rear wall panels of the carrier 10. Severance lines 40 separate the upper portions 18 and 19 from their respective Wall panels. The severance lines can be perforated lines, spaced slits, or other forms of tear line constructions along which the upper portions can be separated from the rest of the wall panels when it is desired to open the carrier. It should be noted that the top seam 27 of the bag 11 terminates above the severance lines 40 so that when the panels 13 and 16 are torn along the lines 40, the bag 11 will be torn below its top seam 27 and thereby opened at the same time. However, the specific top construction shown in the drawings is not part of the present invention, but is the subject of a copending patent application of Robert A. Krzyzanowski, Ser. No. 480,644.

Where the bag top is joined to the carrier, strips 18 and 19 of hot melt or other suitable adhesive can be applied to the upper portions of the front and rear wall panels of the carrier. Other forms of joinder can be used for this purpose; for example, the material from which the carrier is made can be heat sealable or have a heat seal coating on its inner surface, such coating can be selectively applied to only the inner surface of the upper portions of these two wall panels. Adhesive can also be applied in spots or other forms of spaced discrete units. In an appropriate instance, the top of the bag could be joined to the top of the carrier by a staple or other form of fastener.

As indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the wall panels 13 and 16 can have mating apertures near their tops which combine to form a carrying handle when the carrier is erected into a completed package. This enhances the convenience of the package and also forms a means for hanging the package when put on display. If desired, a small hole can be used in place of the handle aperture, which hole would be just big enough to allow the package to be hung on a peg for display purposes. If desired, the top of the carrier can be formed without any type of aperture, in which instance the carrier can be stacked or otherwise arranged on a shelf for display.

The upper portions of the wall panels 13 and 16 can be joined to each other along their contacting interfacial area exclusive of the top part of the bag 11. This joinde-r can be along the zones indicated by the numeral 41 in FIG. 2, and can be effected by means of suitable adhesive, heat sealing, etc. Also, however, this interfacial area can be left unjoined, but most often best results are obtained by joining these upper portions of the wall panels to each other as well as to the bag.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show carriers with cross-sectional shapes other than the generally triangular form shown in the previous drawings. In FIG. 7, a crease 42 can be formed in each front and rear wall panel intermediate its top and bottom to give the main body of the carrier 10 a foursided cross section. In FIG. 8, a plurality of closely-spaced crease lines 42 can be formed in each wall panel to give the upper part of the body of the carrier 10/ an essentially rounded shape; such crease lines not being clearly visible in the drawing but their position being indicated generally by the reference numerals.

Although the carriers disclosed in the drawings have all been shown as holding one bag, they can also be used to package two or more bags. Thus, a carrier of the const-ruction of this invention can hold two bags either sideby-side or one behind the other, in a twin-pack type of arrangement. A vertical severance line can be formed in the front and rear wall panels, and a similar line across the bottom, so that the carrier can be divided into two parts and each bag opened individually.

There has thus been described a carrier or holder for a bag, pouch or similar filled receptacle which is capable of satisfying the objects of this invention. The carrier is of simple construction, economical to manufacture and consists basically of a three panel holder having a base and two upright wall panels, and is adapted to hold a bag joined to the upper region of the two upright wall panels. The carrier is open at two ends when in its final condition. The bag can be held in the carrier in such fashion as to be suspended therein and thereby give added protection to the contents of the bag. The two upright wall panels converge at their upper ends and each has an upper portion which is generally vertical along the center-line of the carrier. These two upper portions abut or face each other along their inner surfaces. The bag can be joined to the carrier between these upper portions of the carrier body and such portions can be joined to each other along their contacting surface exclusive of the top of the bag.

The composite package presents a unique appearance and has a good deal of customer appeal that is so important in the merchandising of consumer items. The carrier gives excellent protection to the bag and minimizes rupture of the bag material. The carrier can use less material to hold a bag than would be required by a conventional six-sided carton, thus making it cheaper as to raw material costs. The carrier may be formed from a web of suitable material and does not have to be supplied in the form of die-cut blanks, thereby permitting cost savings in manufacture and handling. According to one computation, a carrier of this invention required over 37% less paperboard material to package a bag of a particular size than a conventional six-sided carton would have needed for the same bag. Packaging or crating space is also conserved and the same computation showed that one dozen packages using carriers of this invention took up about 33% less cubic space than a conventional sixsided carton for the same size bag. The fact that the bag is anchored or attached to the carrier minimizes shifting and product breakage. The open-ended structure of the present carrier allows a ready inspection of the contents of the bag supported in it, particularly when the bag is made of transparent film material, and enables this without the extra processing needed to cut and cover windows in conventional cartons. This exceptional visibility not only aids customer identification, but also aids in preventing customer deception as to the actual contents of the bag. It is further believed that the carrier can be formed of lighter weight material than a carton because of the strength imparted to the carrier by having two thicknesses of material joined together at the top to provide a handle area and eliminate squeezing together of side walls as is customary when holding a carton. Another advantage of a carrier of this invention is that, particularly with full or partial suspension, the front and 6 rear walls of the carrier act as springs, or have an expansion capability, to absorb shock when a carrier may be dropped on its base and thereby protect the contents in a bag held in the carrier.

While this invention has been described herein with reference to certain specific embodiments, it is stressed that it is intended to cover all changes and modifications of the disclosed embodiments, and other embodiments not shown, which do not constitute a departure from the true spirit and scope of this invention and its contribution to the art of packaging.

I claim:

'1. A package comprising, in combination; a bag having a bag cavity packed with commodity and a carrier for holding the bag;

said carrier consisting of a bottom panel, a front wall panel hinged to one edge of the bottom panel, and a rear wall panel hinged to an opposite parallel edge of the bottom panel;

the front and rear wall panels being folded about the bottom panel to an upright position in which an upper portion of the front wall panel faces an upper portion of the rear wall panel, the bottom panel being divided along a medial line into two portions which have an included angle of less than between them when the carrier is erected;

the top of said bag being joined to the carrier along the upper portions of the front and rear wall panels so that the bag is suspended in the carrier, the carrier forming an open-ended outer holder for the bag which stands upright along the aforesaid edges of the bottom panel to which the front and rear wall panels are hinged.

2. A package according to claim 1, wherein the upper portions of the front and rear wall panels of the canier lie substantially vertically along the vertical center-line of the carrier.

3. A package according to claim 2, wherein the bottom of the bag cavity which contains commodity is spaced above the plane of the edges of the bottom panel to which the front and rear wall panels are hinged.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 173,718 12/ 1954 Cargill.

2,139,040 12/ 1938 Salfisberg 22966 2,153,925 4/ 1939 Johnson 20629 2,850,160 2/ 8 Siebel et al.

2,951,628 9/ 1960 Grussen 22955 3,144,129 8/1964 Weisberg.

3,269,642 8/1966 Cvacho 22953 3,272,423 9/1966 Bjarno 22914 JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

DAVID M. BOCKENEK, Examiner. 

1. A PACKAGE COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION; A BAG HAVING A BAG CAVITY PACKED WITH COMMODITY AND A CARRIER FOR HOLDING THE BAG; SAID CARRIER CONSISTING OF A BOTTOM PANEL, A FRONT WALL PANEL HINGED TO ONE EDGE OF THE BOTTOM PANEL, AND A REAR WALL PANEL HINGED TO AN OPPOSITE PARALLEL EDGE OF THE BOTTOM PANEL; THE FRONT AND REAR WALL PANELS BEING FOLDED ABOUT THE BOTTOM PANEL TO AN UPRIGHT POSITION IN WHICH AN UPPER PORTION OF THE FRONT WALL PANEL FACES AN UPPER PORTION OF THE REAR WALL PANEL, THE BOTTOM PANEL BEING DIVIDED ALONG A MEDIAL LINE INTO TWO PORTIONS 